Mobilitet og det multikulturelle byrom: Hva skjer med stedsmyten, grenser og forskjellighet? Eksempler fra Kristiansand, Norge

Abstract

This article raises the question of what happens on a conceptual level when migrants arrive in a new place. The article shows how processes connected to the establishing of borders and boundaries and the transgressive are competing, intersecting processes within the same multicultural urban space. In the analysis, the concept of place myth is used in the sense of prototypical geographical conceptualizations of what place is. The way that the concept of place myth treats diversity and mobility is analysed, as is the way in which migrants handle a place myth that sees mobility and migrants primarily as new phenomena not yet part of the myth. The article shows that metaphorical concepts such as region and flow are valid, and sees the two processes connected to borders and mobility locally, in conjunction with global and national trends. The article concludes with examining how the place myth, mobility and the cosmopolitical dimension can function as elements in local adaptation strategies among migrants.